


The Light and the Darkness

by eikuuhyo



Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-21
Updated: 2015-10-11
Packaged: 2018-02-22 01:06:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2488760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eikuuhyo/pseuds/eikuuhyo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I was thinking what I could do with my other Destiny Hunter character, so I decided to explore the possibilities of what if a revived Guardian was not an obedient warrior that fights against the Darkness that the Ghost or the Speaker thought him to be.</p><p>Most likely NSFW chapters will eventually ensue, so those will be marked as NSFW after the chapter name.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Abnormal Revival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Destiny character details:  
> http://www.bungie.net/en/Legend/2/4611686018428914700/2305843009222013813  
> Name: Veit Lugaid  
> Race: Exo  
> Class: Hunter (Bladedancer main)  
> Sex: Male  
> Eye Color: Red  
> Main weapon: Hand Cannon  
> Secondary weapon: Sniper Rifle  
> Heavy weapon: Rocket Launcher  
> Personality: Rarely speaks, not sure if he even speaks English in the beginning. He does respond with nods or the shaking of his head if his Ghost relays information to him, so it seems that he at least understands what his Ghost says. Spends most of his time tackling missions and bounties, and then completely disappears from the Tower after he's gained enough upgrades and weapons. Where he disappears to will be discussed in the story.  
> Ghost: Calm, composed, realizes early on that his Guardian responds to nothing said to him except from what he himself tells Veit, so he acts as a translator/interpreter for the Guardian. His loyalties doesn't seem to lie in the Traveler or the Speaker and acts more like a neutral.

 

It had taken months for the Ghost to search for his Guardian. Days and weeks passed as he scanned corpse after corpse outside the Cosmodrome, making him wonder if he would ever find the one that he'd heard other Ghosts speak of. Thus when he finally found the corpse that his scan reacted to, the Ghost couldn't contain his joy as he used his ray of light to revive him.

However, once the revived Guardian sat up and the Ghost gave him the basic rundown of what's happened over the past centuries, he noticed something odd.

"...Guardian, is something wrong? You've been awfully quiet through all this," the Ghost asked cautiously.

The Exo Hunter blinked his scarlet optics while opening and closing his fists, a blank look being cast towards the floating Ghost before him. Still, no words.

"Uh... Guardian, do you understand what I'm saying?"

A nod.

"Okay... So, why aren't you saying anything? Isn't there anything you want to ask me?" the Ghost inquired, but once again, he was returned the blank and rather disturbing, empty look. It didn't take long though until the shrill shriek of the Fallen echoed through the wasteland and the Guardian did react to that with a turned head towards where that voice came from. "All right, if you can understand what I'm saying, then we need to get on the move. There are many Fallen in the area, so follow me and let's get inside the wall."

No words, just another nod as the Guardian stood up and began running towards the wall of the Cosmodrome.

(Dear the Traveler, who in the world have I revived...?) thought the Ghost, as a small sense of dread ran through his processor at the utterly silent Guardian within his sight.


	2. Oddities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Writing my Exo Warlock was challenging in the fact that he was such an innocent and happy character, but my Exo Hunter is starting to prove difficult too because he doesn't speak for reasons that will become apparent in the next chapter.

 

Today was one of those days that the Ghost and his Guardian were taking a break. The Ghost watched as his Guardian sat in the darkest corner of the Tower Hangar, away from all the people and frames at the Tower as he performed maintenance on his weaponry.

This Exo Hunter was different from the others, and the Ghost had seen his share of strange Guardians. He'd seen the infamous Exo Warlock who would sit atop the Postmaster's building and happily chat with his Ghost in his arms for hours on end. He'd seen Human Titans who would do nothing but dance non-stop wherever he stood in the Tower, his stamina seemingly endless. But none of them seemed to compare to his own.

The Ghost watched as his Hunter—Veit, it seems his true name was according to what he wrote on the ground during one mission, which was another story in itself of oddity—meticulously sharpened his trusty knife, making sure that it was well-oiled before returning it to its sheath, then moving onto taking apart the hand cannon Veit had grown to show a liking for over the past weeks. Each movement of his digits seemingly calculated, each placement of the gun pieces put in order that only the Guardian understood, and each action done with an empty gaze and utter silence.

Veit still had not spoken a single word since his revival. To a certain extent, it seemed as if he didn't understand anything that the other Guardians would say, not even the Speaker's words. When spoken to by another or when taking on bounties, the Guardian would stand there with that blank expression he always has and would cock his head slightly in what must signify confusion. However, their first interaction had proven that Veit understood the Ghost's words, so it became a pattern where the Ghost would repeat every word the other person would say, to which Veit would nod or shake his head to.

To add to this peculiarity, it seemed the Hunter preferred hunting the Hive and Vex over any other enemy of the Darkness. Most Guardians would train on Earth at the Cosmodrome for some amount of time before moving onto other planets they gained access to on their jumpships, yet Veit was an exception. He quickly found a warp drive for his jumpship much faster than other Guardians and proceeded to take on missions on the Moon and Venus, gladly taking on bounties involved in the slaying of the Hive and Vex there, while he used that opportunity to hone in his Bladedancer skills.

To be honest, it was quite a sight watching Veit slay his enemies with his Arc Blade. One after another, hordes of enemies would fall at his blade, and it was only during this time that the Ghost would see the ghost of a smile from his Guardian. Even when he wasn't using his charged up attack, the Ghost was impressed to see him land well-aimed shots with his hand cannon on tough opponents while walking towards them, then finishing them off with the quick swipe of his blade at the opponent's head.

"Veit, are you ready to go?" asked the Ghost, seeing his Guardian stash each weapon away. A nod is returned to this question and the Ghost floats about as Veit stands and brushes the dust off his clothes before walking up the stairs up out to the Tower Hangar. Everything was going like usual, until a larger Awoken Titan accidentally bumped into the Hunter.

"Oh, do forgive me...! I didn't see you there—" the Titan started to appologize, when the Ghost caught a sound made by his Guardian for the first time. What echoed from the depths of Veit's vocalizer sounded like a cross between a low hiss and a growl, obvious irritation emanating from the smaller Hunter, making the Titan immediately back off with his hands up, not wanting to start a scene.

Thankfully though, Veit quickly calmed down and fell silent again while continuing his walk towards his jumpship.

However, that reaction sparked another memory within the shocked Ghost. He suddenly remembered one last oddity about his Guardian. Whenever the duo would be out on missions and Veit would get hit by stray bullets, he... would make that bizarre sound, like just now. He couldn't identify it as a hiss or a growl, but whatever it could be called, it was not ordinary. Each time the Ghost heard it, he felt as if he could put a finger on what it reminded him of... Unfortunately though, such thoughts would quickly be lost because Veit would look towards him in need of more information on what to do next.

And now, the Ghost shook that thought from his processor again. Whatever it was, he dismissed it as being just another one of his Guardian's oddities, and nothing of importance.

Or so he thought, until a few days later when the two were sent on a mission to the Cosmodrome, and a shocking truth came to light.


	3. A Strange Tongue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank goodness I was able to pump this chapter out while watching the BD release of the original Alien! It was one of those chapters where I knew how it started and how it would end, but filling in the middle part proved to be the issue. Now that this is done with, I can start exploring more ideas on where to take this story.

 

Even from the Ghost's understanding of his Guardian, he could tell when Veit was unhappy. Most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference in his change of mood because of his usual expressionless face, but the Ghost could... and right now, Veit was extremely unhappy.

The Guardian's displeasure began with a simple statement made by the Speaker himself: a mission to infiltrate the Fallen at the Cosmodrome in search of vital intel. The reaction wasn't instantaneous, of course. Veit stood motionless with that slightly cocked head of confusion to which the Ghost repeated the Speaker's words to him. That was when those normally emotionless optics narrowed and his mouth canted down by a few degrees, soon followed by a short shake of his head.

...Typical.

"Guardian... It's a normal, simple mission. All you have to do is infiltrate the area where the Walker appears from time to time. You'll be in and out within a few hours at most."

Another, more harder head shake.

"...Guardian," the Ghost sighed, trying a different angle of approach, "Once this mission is over, I won't complain wherever you go for the next month. Want to go slay hordes of Vex? Done. Want to go face tons of matches in the Crucibles? Sure. Just... do this one mission for me."

...This time, the Ghost could see that Veit was contemplating. Sensing that the Speaker was starting to be perplexed by this hold up, the small figure deduced that a month of monotonous shooting at enemies was much better than turning down the Speaker's personal mission now, rather than making their position a dangerous one. Thankfully, his Guardian reluctantly agreed and the Ghost internally sighed in relief.

Unfortunately for the little light though, it would take another hour of dragging Veit around the Tower to stock up on new weaponry and bounties before the two would finally set off on their jumpship to the Cosmodrome.

 

 

That was a only a few hours ago, but to the Ghost it seemed like ages. He and his Guardian were in The Divide, Veit slaying every last Vex that was in his sight and occassionally, perhaps the Ghost could even say hesitantly, took out the Fallen there as well. The only problem being, the Guardian seeming very distracted, which affected their overall progression speed. (At least I was able to convince him to do this mission...) the Ghost thought silently, keeping tabs on their general location and letting Veit know which direction to go in next.

However, since this mission involved the infiltration of heavily Fallen guarded areas, their speed eventually slowed to a crawl, to which the Ghost finally decided to speak up.

_[Guardian, I know that you're not happy about doing this mission. But we'll be here for days if you don't get your act together! Now, are you going to shape up, or do I have to go back on my word about the deal we made?]_

Seemingly picking up on the Ghost's hint of irritation, the Guardian slowly stopped dead in his tracks and drew the Ghost out of him. The cerulean optic looked up into Veit's red optics, hesitation and anxiety easily readable from them. Whatever was causing him this much distress, this wasn't the time for it.

"Guardian..." the Ghost asked once more.

...A quick glancing of the optics from the side to side, then a short nod. The Ghost watched with a relieved sigh as Veit pulled out his usual hand cannon before slipping into one of the nearby buildings, the one that had been indicated by the Speaker.

The whole ordeal from there was one that was much more quick, hesitation still showing through but the Guardian now taking down the Dregs and Vandals with precise head shots. One after another, the Fallen would fall with a shriek. More grenades thrown, more swiping of the Arcblade by Veit. As the Ghost kept monitor of the Guardian's vitals, he could tell that Veit's anxiety levels were through the roof, though he opted not to bring it up or ask if Veit needed to take a break, since they were almost through with this mission.

Just one more room, where the data required would be, and that would be it. The Ghost decided that he and Veit would have a long chat after this, get to the bottom of whatever problem he's facing, and this whole thing could be put behind them. Yes, that would be for the best.

Veit looked towards the Ghost once, gave his usual short nod and drew the Ghost back into his body before kicking down the door into the final room. What the Guardian saw once inside was a large hall, one with high ceilings and what seemed to be an active computer further within. In front of it was a Fallen Captain, accompanied by numerous Shanks and Vandals, all turning towards the Guardian at the entrance with a loud growl. Even from within his Guardian, the Ghost could see the Captain bark what seemed like orders in that strange Fallen language.

_[Guardian, they're still getting ready to launch an attack! Take them down while you still can!]_

...No response.

_[...Guardian? Are you listening!?]_

More silence, and then the Ghost felt something. His Guardian—Veit—who would gun down countless Hive and Vex, was shaking. His digits gripping the hand cannon was trembling, his breathing ragged, and his usual emotionless optics darting back and forth between the yelling Fallen.

_[Guardian! You have to fight! They're coming at us!]_

Shots were fired and Veit barely had enough time to dodge, one or two stray shots still grazing his body though. That pain seems to have snapped the Guardian out of his trance, and he immediately switched from his hand cannon to the sniper rifle, using the distance between him and the others to his advantage. Four rounds were loaded right into the heads of the Vandals surrounding the Captain, a quick reload, and then more shots taking down the flying Shanks.

Veit then charged at the remaining Captain, letting Arc energy flow into the blade in his right hand before releasing its power upon the enemy.

 

 

After the battle was over and the Ghost recovered the intel that the Speaker required, the small figure turned his gaze towards his Guardian. Veit had slumped to the floor, remaining motionless after he finished slaying the Fallen in the room. Knowing that something was definitely amiss by now, the Ghost floated towards the Guardian and was about to speak up when the unthinkable happened.

He heard Veit mutter his name.

"Guardian...?"

["Ghost..."] Veit said again, but it didn't sound right to the Ghost's sensors. He understood perfectly what was being said—yet his tone, his voice wasn't right.

The Guardian threw his helmet off, turning towards the Ghost and yelled, ["Ghost, I don't understand...! What is going on here!?"]

That tone...

That... growl...

[" _Please_ , tell me! Why can I understand everything that the Fallen say, when I cannot understand a word of what other humans speak!?"] 

His Guardian—the one whom he had brought back to life.

The one who should be filled with Light, was speaking in _Fallen tongue_.


	4. Melancholy of an Exo Hunter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More angst for my Exo Hunter as the story continues on.

 

...When the Hunter awoke, he saw a light. A bright, cerulean light that spoke to him.

As he sat up, disoriented and rather lightheaded for that matter, there was something that felt off about him. The only way he could describe the sensation was that he felt isolated, sectioned off from what was happening around him. The voice that was speaking to him was calming, yet questioning at times, to which the Hunter looked upon the floating figure.

"...Guardian, is something wrong? You've been awfully quiet through all this," the figure that called himself a Ghost said.

To this, the Hunter just nodded. He had heard everything that this Ghost had said about himself being revived from the dead, how the time he was living now was a much distant future, and something about these creatures called the Fallen coming after them. That was about when he heard a voice in the distance—it sounded shrill and like a growl—yet, it was... calming? At first it was only noises echoing from the distance, and then it became clearer. He could understand the words and that they were searching for what seemed to be an equipment of some sorts.

However before he could listen any closer, the Ghost ushered him along, telling him to run into the walls to take cover.

For now, the Hunter did as told.

 

It was only when the two of them returned to the Tower that the Hunter realized that the peculiarity he felt earlier after revival was not just his imagination. The moment the two descended from this jumpship they had discovered back on Earth, the Hunter was surrounded by indiscernible chatter. It was jarring, unpleasant to his audio sensors... It made no sense. Every living being in this place called the Tower was speaking in this language, and it frightened him.

Thankfully for him though, he could understand his Ghost. The Ghost picked up rather quickly that his Guardian was having no luck understanding what the others were saying and acted as his interpreter whenever necessary. At other times, the Hunter would point at things and cock his head for more clarification. He patiently learned how the system at this Tower worked about the Guardians and the Traveler, got his hands on some weaponry to protect himself with, and tried... tried to deal with the chatter all around that he couldn't understand.

Whatever it was with the language that everyone else but him spoke, it was disturbing and sent fear to his core. The Hunter eventually found one place at the Tower where no other people would come, a dark corner down the stairs in the Tower Hangar, which was filled with peace and quiet for him. In this area secluded from all other Guardians and Ghosts, the Hunter made sure that his own Ghost was shut down for the night before he decided to try something that he wouldn't even dare until now: speak.

The Hunter took a moment to calm himself, exhaled, and then said his own name that he remembered.

["...Veit Lugaid."]

The voice that echoed much louder than he woud've liked, was grating. It sounded like a combination of a hiss and a growl, nothing like a regular human or Exo at all. The Hunter—Veit—took a moment to shut his mouth. His entire frame shook, breaths heavy, and what seemed to be his heart pounding in the middle of his chest before he muttered quietly once more, ["...Why do I not sound like everyone else?"]

Fortunately or unfortunately, his Ghost seemed to have picked up on this change in the Guardian and awakened from recharge. "Guardian, is everything all right?" concern coming from both his small optic and his voice.

Veit decided to keep this discovery from himself for the time being, not knowing how his partner would react to it, and gave a small nod to indicate that all was well. He cracked the smallest hint of a smile and pat the small figure to try and lull him back to recharge. The Hunter's processor was still running a mile a minute trying to deduce this predicament he was in, but for now, he decided to wait and see if there were any clues he could find to solve this mystery.

 

From then on, time seemed to slip away. Veit and his Ghost traversed through the Cosmodrome and even to other planets like the Moon and Venus, taking on missions and bounties at the Tower to serve his roll as a Guardian. It wasn't a bad life, per se; every day became a routine of wake up, refuel, go accept new bounties, head to their destination on the jumpship, and take out whatever enemy force of the Darkness that was getting in there way. Fighting the Hive and Vex were simple enough, since all they had in mind seemed to be the annihilation of other species to claim new lands as their own.

Fighting the Fallen on the other hand was another story. At first, Veit had dismissed their initial encounter with the Fallen outside the walls of the Cosmodrome as a figment of his imagination, that what he thought he heard echo from the distance weren't words that an Exo like himself could understand. However, it startled him when they had returned to the Cosmodrome later as well as their journey to the Moon and Venus, and Veit could once again hear the words that the Fallen were speaking in. He could understand when the Fallen Captain would bark orders at his Vandals and Dregs, and while during such encounters, the Ghost would give him short comments in regards to them that clearly stated that he didn't understand what they were doing.

Knowing that he was the only one who could understand what the Fallen were saying scared the Hunter.

Since then, Veit avoided all contact with the Fallen as much as possible. He'd gladly go on missions that involved taking on hordes of Hive or Vex. And if he had to go to areas where Fallen would be, he willingly took on patrol missions that kept him far away from the species that spoke in a language that he understood. The Hunter knew that he was pushing his luck by only doing these things, but the Ghost seemed to accept this as another of his Guardian's peculiarities and left it at that. To this, Veit was most thankful.

But like all good things that must come to an end, one day the duo were called out by the Speaker himself. Veit stood and waited while the Speaker spoke in that jarring language that he couldn't understand, and then made a slight glance at his Ghost to tell him what was just told to him. When his Ghost relayed the information that he would have to go back to the Cosmodrome to gain Fallen intel, Veit refused vehemently.

(The Cosmodrome is filled with Fallen left and right!) he wanted to yell, yet he knew that would be the stupidest thing he could ever do. Veit knew that he was already an anomaly amongst the Guardian ranks with his inability to speak and understand others. If someone, especially the Speaker, were to learn of his current predicament, there was no knowing what would become of him.

After minutes of the Ghost trying to make a deal with him of a month of going along with anything Veit wanted to do, the Hunter reluctantly accepted. This would not be an easy mission for him and Veit silently prayed that nothing would go wrong.

Hours later, he learned that he couldn't have been more wrong. As Veit sat, slumped on the ground around the group of Fallen he had just slain in order to get the intel the Speaker wished for, he felt numb. Every word, every command given was discernible to him. And what shock the Hunter to his core was the fact that their voice as they spoke, was exactly like his own when he attempted to speak weeks ago in that dark corner of the Tower Hangar.

Veit had had enough.

When his Ghost returned from extracting the necessary data out of the terminal, the Hunter grabbed the edge of his helm and threw it off to exclaim, ["Ghost, I don't understand...! What is going on here!? Please... Please tell me! Why can I understand everything that the Fallen say, when I cannot understand a word of what other humans speak!?"]

Veit saw the shock in his Ghost's cerulean optic from hearing his Guardian's voice for the first time. There was a possibility that this could backfire, because ever since his revival, Veit had been told by his Ghost and others around him that he was a Guardian of the Light, one who would fight for the Traveler and drive back the Darkness, yet here he was, speaking in the tongue of the Fallen, those known to be part of the Darkness.

...The Hunter could care less now though. The mystery was driving him insane and he needed answers. NOW.

The Ghost floated down to his eye level, and Veit watched as he saw the small figure blinked once and then gave a small gesture that looked like a nod.

"...I knew from the moment that I revived you that you were different, Guardian. I just never could put a finger on what it was until now, and I thank you for finally bringing it up," the Ghost said, pausing for a moment to do a quick scan of the area before lowering his voice, "...Don't worry. I do not intend on reporting this to anyone. You are my Guardian, and that fact will never change. We'll figure this out... together."

And with that, the Ghost nudged his body to Veit's forehead in a reassuring matter. This gesture was more than enough to shatter the tension that had been growing since the day of the Guardian's revival, and Veit crumpled to the ground once again as fluid that resembled tears fell from his optics.

As all forms of emotions came crashing down upon the Hunter, Veit wept for the first time in his existence.


	5. The Fallen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally finished this chapter!! I had to go through a lot of Destiny lore to figure out where I was going to take this story, and I think I know what to do with Veit. Hopefully the next few chapters will come a little more naturally than these past few months.

Ten hours ago, a Ghost learned that his Guardian spoke in only Fallen tongue. The Ghost consoled the weeping Hunter as best he could, murmuring words of encouragement and comfort so that after quite some time, the Guardian finally looked ready to leave the area they were in. They needed to return to the Tower first and turn in the intel to the Speaker before they could discuss what was truly at hand.

Feeling somewhat better that Veit finally was able to confide his darkest secret to his partner, the Hunter succeeded in maintaining a calm persona as his Ghost turned in said intel. There was some odd talk between his Ghost and the Speaker, but it was eventually dropped and within a few minutes, Veit and his Ghost were back on their ship. It was the only place the Ghost could think of where they could have absolute privacy from prying ears.

As the jumpship hovered above the moon, the Ghost came out of his Guardian and faced the once-again distraught Hunter.

"Alright... It's okay now, Guardian. You can speak here without any worries."

There was a moment's hesitation before Veit nodded.

["...Thank you."]

The voice still sounded jarring and strange, yet the Ghost returned a nod as well. "So, let's start from the beginning. Tell me when this all began."

["...It has been this way from the beginning. Ever since you brought me back to life, I felt like I did not belong,"] Veit whispered. ["Those sounds... Those voices of whom you said belong to the Fallen... It sounded familiar to me. It sounded... _comforting_."]

The Guardian took a moment to pause and looked down at his glove covered fingers. They nervously fumbled with each other, and the Ghost could understand why. If all of this had been going on since the very beginning, then he could only imagine how hard it must've been to feel like an outcast all this time.

"Go on."

["...Once we got back to the Tower, I couldn't understand any of the other people there. I could understand you, but no one else. And when I attempted to speak, I sounded nothing like them."]

"And I take it that our last mission was when you finally realized why."

Another small nod.

["My voice was just like theirs. They spoke in that same tone, and I understood every word they said while we confronted them."]

"Hm... Pray tell, what were they speaking about?"

["Those Fallen were gathering data on the humans. Something... Something about history on the Darkness? They weren't like the other Fallen we've encountered now. Had we not interfered, they probably would've been in and out, and no one would've noticed."]

Those words made the Ghost twirl in mid-air in confusion. "That sounds... very unlike the Fallen I know of in my database."

A few minutes passed from there of utter silence. Veit was at a loss from what to do from here on, now that he had told his Ghost about what had been on his mind. It also felt somewhat odd to him to be able to speak like this, for his vocalizer had gone without much use for some time.

The Ghost took that silence to consider various options as well. Going to the Speaker or anyone at the Tower about this was out of the question, for he could only imagine that leading to the imprisonment... or worse yet, the termination of his Guardian. There was in no way that mankind would take any chances with a Guardian who could understand and interact with Fallen, after all.

"Guardian, do you recall anything else those Fallen spoke of? Any... names? My database shows that Fallen work in groups under a certain House," the Ghost asked once more. "House of Wolves, House of Devils, House of Exiles... Something of that sort."

Veit's optic lit up at that comment. ["Yes, yes they did. They mentioned something about the House of Stone."]

"The House of Stone...? But Guardian, that House is said to have gone extinct. Their leader was a legendary Kell that the Fallen still revere to this day."

For a second, the Hunter's optic went downcast, finding out that the one clue he had managed to pick up had been for nothing. Yet, it was another second later that those same optics suddenly looked up and stared directly into the Ghost's cerulean optic.

["...No. No, I won't let this go. I need to know what's going on here, be it a lead that may lead us nowhere in the end."]

"But what can we do, Guardian? We can't go to the Tower for information on this."

Without another word returned to his Ghost, Veit took reins of the jumpship and served it back towards Earth.

 

A few days later, Veit stood before an incapacitated Fallen Captain and boldly stated, ["Take me to your Kell."]


End file.
